A group of ex-employees from craft beer brewing company BrewDog are campaigning to bring to light their negative experiences at work.
The Punks with Purpose campaign posted an open letter on Twitter that subsequently attracted a significant amount of support from past and current employees. The letter stated that BrewDog had spent years claiming it wanted to be the best employer in the world, to help recruit top talent, but the reality was much different. “Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at BrewDog”.
Among the complaints, were examples of employees being belittled or pressured into working beyond their capacity, and often being forced out of the business. The campaign argues that by placing personalities at the centre of business marketing, egos were inflated and a culture developed that gave weight to sexism and misogyny. It was a “toxic environment” that had been allowed to go unchallenged for years.
BrewDog’s co-founder, James Watt, responded by saying that their people are the main priority and the open letter has troubled them. Watt added that the open letter proved that on many occasions they had not got it right. He said, “Our focus now is not on contradicting or contesting the details of that letter, but to listen, learn and act”.
